1869 4 Feb. 10/1 The auriferous soil should be well ‘puddled’ before cradling. A half hogshead makes a capital ‘puddling tub’.
1930 H. H. Richardson (1954) I. 11 The noise of the spades, chopping the gravel into the puddling-tubs or the Long Toms, was like the scrunch of shingle under waves.